Good morning. The dow is now on its longest winning streak in 16 years. Thursday, march 14th, 2013 and squawk box begins right now. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to squawk box here on cnbc. Im becoky quick along with andrew ross sorkin. Joe is on vacation. Hes still skiing. We are joined on set by mike san tilly. Good to have you here. Good to be with you. Thanks. Good to see you. We have a lot of stuff to talk about because of the markets. The markets have been our lead just about every morning. Not the pope . No, the pope was red. Well talk more about that in a bit. But as we have been doing every morning lately, we begin with the markets because just about every has been closing. As andrew mentioned, its a nineday winning streak. Thats the longest weve seen since 1996. The s p still hasnt reached the alltime high of 1565. 15. Its been get veg close, but at this point, the broader index is still 11 points away. Do you have any idea why its been tough on the s p 500 . Financials and tech have not been dominant groups. That is where the water mark was set. I dont think theres any big reason for it. Yeah. And were only about 11 points away from it at this point. Traders are also watching the s ps all time intraday high of 15 a 76. The index is about a percent away from that level. Take a look a the how things are shaping up this morning. As it has come in the last several days, dow futures are up about 39 points. You see green arrows once again. At the present futures up by 4. 5. In europe, there are green arrows there, as well. The dax in germany is up about 0. Is 7 . In asia area overnight been you can see that the nikkei was up by 1. 6 , this green arrows in the chinese market, as well. Oil prices have ticked higher. Theyre up this morning by about 21 cents. I think 92. 7 3 is the last straight there. So above 92, but still well below what we had seen earlier this year. If you take a look at the tenyear note this morning, youre going to see that actually, well take a look at the dollar first. The dollar is up against the euro. Oh, wow, 11. 2956, so euro back below 1. 30. The dollar is up against the yen, but its down with the pound. The next board, i think we take a look at gold after this. Yeah. Lets take a look at gold. Down by 1. 40. 1587 an ounce. We have a number of important economic tests before the bell this morning. At 8 30 eastern time, we get weekly jobless claims. Thats going to be very closely watch because of what happened with the jobs report last friday. It was better than expected numbers. Well see if the jobless claims go up even further. Consensus is for 350,000. We get the february Producer Price index in the Fourth Quarter current account. First time filings to have for unemployment is expected to rise by 10,000. Polled economists say that the headline ppi likely increased by 0. 7 . The core is expected to tick higher by a more modest 1. 10 . Lets put a little bit in context. Another piece of news that makes this interesting, investors are now pouring 2. 9 billion in mutual funds. The money that went to funds, that money went into funds that hold international stocks. So those funds had inflows of 3. 5 billion. So we have all this money going into u. S. Funds, but now even more money going into u. S. International funds. Meantime, funds that hold u. S. Stocks suffered outflows of 578 million. Thats crazy. You would think at this point that maybe people would be putting more money into the u. S. Stock market, they would be chasing this. Its been the pattern. Its been the pattern for a long time now. Were talking about numbers that are just around the edges of exactly how much people have in total invested in there, but really, the international has gotten more than its share for a long time. Everybody says we just saw what happened in the u. S. I dont think so. I dont think its that tactical. I think its people basically saying, you know, if youre looking at a three or fiveyear trailing number, for some reason its drawing you in that direction, i dont know. To me, the etf kind of flow is what youre seeing in terms of the coincidence money going into and recognizing what is already happening here. Lets talk housing news this morning. There was a sharp drop this is good news, by the way. There was a sharp drop in u. S. Homes to foreclosure last month. Among the reason, rising home prices in efforts to buy states more time to avoid losing their homes. Foreclosures listing firm realty track reports the number of homes last month fell 11 from january. Declined 29 from february last year. Foreclosures are now at their lowest level since 2007 and i remember when Warren Buffett said at some point all this housing thing is going to work itself out. Now were finally getting it. Maybe. Youre still on a maybe . Well, its definitely bottomed out, but it doesnt feel like we are anywhere near the levels just in home prices and peoples oh, but i think were still i mean, from housing getting back to where we the market just got back to where we were in 20307. If you bought in 2007, 2008, 2009, you probably are still waiting. And i know where he lives in new york city, those places are actually much higher now. No. Theres no doubt about it. But i think in the real america not out here. Its basically still an impaired market. You have this disproportionate kind of not just a foreclosure side, but the investors are a big proopponent of it. Its obviously healing itself, but it doesnt feel organic at this point. Even though it is going in the right direction, it will continue. All of real estate, the local market, it very much depends on where you are. You did mention the pope. That is a huge story today. You got it . I got it. I heard. I heard the news. Its on the cover of can you believe how they did that on the wall street journal today. Squeeze tighter. They used to do it remember when they used to have just a little thing. It was farther down. Now its moved over. You know what im talking about. I do, yeah. With the whats news column . Yeah. With the whats news column. They would occasionally knock it down. You about it is huge news. Yesterday at this time, we were watching and we saw smoke that came just about this time yesterday. The official news is out. Its pope francis. And Mary Thompson joins us with more on this story. This is huge, mary, because this is the huge time were seeing a leader come from latin america. First time from the americas. Becky, the 266th leader of the Catholic Church greeted people yesterday saying the cardinals had to go to the end of the world to find a new pope. The former arch bischoff of bun yo beunos aries, at 40 of the worlds clath licks reside that. Jorge Mario Bergoglio was runner up to benedict xvi. This time hes 76. Hes known for his humility. He took public buses instead of a chauffeured car, living in a simple apartment and cook his own meals. In his 14 years as arch bishop, he weighed in on Many Political and social conflicts while honing in on skills needed to reform the vaticans sometimes incompetent curia. Pop francis is best known in his retire life as an advocate of the poor. In latin america, growth has been great and misery has been reduced to least. And while a conservative on social issues, he has be rated breefts for not baptizing children that have been born out of wedlock. The new pope may bring reform himself. Certainly he brings change. He had the first jesuit to be named pope. Guys, back to you. Mary, all the reports that ive heard, at least the initial reports, show that huge amount of enthusiasm, talking about what you mentioned with his humility, with his real touch with the people. Hes known as a soccer fan and a man who walks among the streets and thats makes the people in argentina love him all the more for those issues. But youre right, he face aes huge number of hurdles with the scandals that have come up in recent years. Its true. And i think whats interesting is picking basically someone who is considered a pastor as opposed to a theologian. The church is understanding that. They need someone who can reach out and make a connection with the people because pope francis had a similar problem in argentina, feeling the Catholic Church didnt do enough to fight back against a very abusive government. So hes used to dealing with a disaffected populous. That has been the one criticism that ive heard, is that youll see much more on his silence during those years in argentina during the 70s and the 80s that he didnt speak out more against that ruling goftd. Right. And the cycle has already started in that he did do more than what was led on. It was just that he remained silent about those actions. Heir mary, that i think very much. This is a huge story, one would have been following closely. Sure. A little Corporate News this morning, samsung will unveil its latest galaxy tonight in new york. Apple going on the defensive. In a rare interview, apples marketing chief attacked samsung and googles Android Software calling it fragmented. It underscores the extent of pressure on apple right now to explain what fragmented means because google has an android platform but traditionally doesnt own the hardware. There are different versions of the software on different devices. Thats why theyre calling it fragmented. But the fact that apple is even acknowledgiing that samsung exists i think is something that in the old steve jobs day would never happen, right . No. You would let the product speak for itself. I feel when apple ran an ad in the paper regarding oh, this is when they had the start me up, right . Windows had the campaign and and it was just a huge driven lead up and the all it said was congratulations but with windows language and the colon. And it was a snarky thing, but it showed that they were cool and hip. Some of the other apple ads have taken, mentioned their competitors, too. Remember the apple guy. Certainly. Where you compare yourself to windows. That was on the pc side, so they werent the incumbent with the iphone. I cant believe were even talking about it. But, anyway i wonder why they did do the interview. Its been unusual that they did interviews, anyway. I was at that conference with the young people last week. The momentum behind android over apple, it is what it is. In related news, the u. S. International trade commission is delaying a ruling on the patent story. The full itc said it would review the matter. If the full Commission Reverses the judges ruling and found that apple is guilty of infringement, the itc could order apples product banned from the u. S. Market. Apple had filed complaints against samsung for copying its iphone and ipad. Andrew is talking about the iphone and ipads, im still talking about blackberry. The company reporting one of its partners placed an order for a million blackberry 10 devices. Shipments will begin immediately. Blackberry says this is the largest order ever in its history. At this point, i think theres only one carrier here in the united states. Is it at t, i think, and theyve had delayed launches for the other carriers. I wonder if the its that carrier, whats going on. The Obama Administration is reportedly drawing up plans to give spy agencies the ability to scour americans finances. The white house wants to give spy agencies full access to a massive database that contains Financial Information on american citizenes and others who bank in this country. The goal is to spot and track down terrorists networkes and crime syndicates by bridging together criminal records, military intelligence and financial reports. It is still likely to trigger some intense criticism for privacy advocates. Can i say im not bothered. I read this story. Im not already bothered by it, either. And the fbi already has access to this information. Its not that they dont. Its actually that the cia and other otherwises didnt. I dont know. I am sure there will be. Rivacy concerns that are it wasnt all that surprised. Theres privacy concerns, but theres the idea the cia was never supposed to operate internally. To me thats the bigger publish issue. Before we didnt think the enemy was from within. But thats why its news worthy, not so much that the data is not accessible otherwise. Right. In other washington news, a Senate Committee will be releasing its report on the jpmorgan what he wile watchers. And Bank Executives will be gathering on capitol hill tomorrow for a grilling. Witnesses include former cio ina drew in her first public appearance since the scandal. She will be there. Jamie dimon is not on that list. Jamie dimon no one. Mike cavanagh is an interesting one. Doug braunstein, currently the injuries chairman was the cfo who boar the brunt of some of the blame at the time. Ashley bacon and then peter weiland. Finally, treasury secretary jack lew is heading to atlanta to visit a facility and our own Steve Liesman will be there. There he is standing next to the next treasury secretary. You can catch all that. That conversation will happen at 4 15 around time. Kelly evans is standing by in london. Good morning. Good morning. Great to see you guys and is mike san tolly, as well. Here is a look at whats been happening in tradover night. The ftse mib is up 1 in italy. We just got word from the bank of italy that those banks that posted a lost, it wants them to reign in bonuses and its concerned about capital levels. That was in a statement. Still in the green, bankintender, wmps. Some of the other names have been suspended in trade, including bancopalatea. Lets take a look at the sovereign debt picture. Weve seen the italian paper yesterday fall off. So 4. 68 versus 4. 81 for spain. She did go to auction maybe raising in 1. 2 billion ur rowses. It actually in, fael, with 11400 euros. We learned that Fourth Quarter employment levels, guys, were at their lowest since 2006. So you take population growth into account and the fact that thats, what, six years on, fewer people employed . You can tell this story, even if its been a positive one for now, is far from over. Back to you. Kelly evans, thank you for that. Coming up, were going to talk about why u. S. Regulators are investigating gold prices. Plus, the early futures from the trading pirt. 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S p futures indicated higher by just over 3. 5 points. U. S. Regulators are examining gold price necessary london and the cftc is trying to determine if the prices are being manipulated. No formal investigation has been opened, but among the issues being discussed is whether the setting of both gold and silver prices is transparent. When they say things like that, guys, i think thats back to libor, eurobor. Probably all in question this morning. Is this a joke . I dont think its a joke. The whole london fixing, it was one of those similar thing. Were taking your word for it. And the what regulators have said since this, in europe and here, has been were not going to take your word. Your word is no longer the Gold Standard. That being said, you can sell gold anywhere in the world. To me, its a little bit manipulatable over the longterm than, say, libor is, which is a number. You can understand why theyre skeptical. Sure. Lets get to our National Forecast this morning from the weather channels reynolds wolf. Aloha. Good looking morning in the northeast. Aloha. I like that. Its just mixing it up a little bit. We want hawaiian kind of conditions, dont we . Yes. Bring it on. Youre going to have some chilly mornings the next couple of days, but spring is on the horizon. We make our way in atlanta. Cool morning, but a nice day overall with 55, 66 in tampa. Lets work our way to the west. Quiet in the nations mid section. Check out dallas. 78 degrees. Kansas city with 68 degrees. A few snow showers. Minneapolis. Out to the west we go and we head out to the west. We see rain in parts of the pacific northwest. Nice and quiet for you in l. A. Near the Staples Center and ill tell you, in terms of travel, its not going to be is thoin thats going to cause you issues. In atlanta, its going to be perfect at hartsfieldjackson. Could see some backups in chicago and the twin citys all due to the snowflakes. Back to you guys. Is it going to get a lot warmer on the east coast soon . Is that what youre giving us hints of . Pretty much. We should see that early next week. Fine ix finally getting into the 90s over the next couple of days. It will be warmer around a good portion of the nation, including the northeast. Reynolds, thank you. Great to see you again. Thanks, guys. Check this out. What about the idea of a ka seenny in the sky . You can get in a few hands of blackjack while flying home from a business meeting. A couple of french companies, air jet design essence are trying to get the airlines to buy into their casino jet lounge. Were not talking blue haired ladies at penny slots here. This is all high end. The company is telling cnbc that the cost of tricking out a commercial jet starts at about 2 million to 3 million. They will do private planes, but there is one slight glitch in all this. Gambling is still banned in usair space. So if you were just to fly over the atlantic a little bit, make a little detour it would work. Thats why they have those cruises that you can go out and gamble for the day. Its actually what you do on a cruise ship. Im surprised it hasnt happened before now, to be honest with you. If youre going the lose money on the plane to begin with, you want to pay to get on the plane so you can lose more money . Yes. All of these casinos, thats the trick with macau and every one of these places. I dont know. If youre fought going somewhere do i think youre going to go up in the air for fun . No. These are probably for trips that would take you out over those areas. Its going to take you to vegas and back . Y